


History Rewritten

by VividlyLost



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Blood, Body Horror, Hybrids, Laura has problems, MC is a woman, MC is named, Swearing, Tropes, demi-monsters, is there a relationship in this?, laura doesn't want friends, well tough shit laura, will add tags as needed, you tell me - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-02-16 10:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13052136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VividlyLost/pseuds/VividlyLost
Summary: There is a small town, secluded from the majority of the world, where the children are taught a history very different from the rest of the world.  It tells a story of a war, a war long forgotten by humankind.  A war between humans and monsters; from a time when magic was widely practiced and relations were tense.In this small town the children are taught that not every monster died, and not every surviving monster was sealed away.  Those that escaped, both human and monster, began life again.  Hidden away in small villages away from the majority of humanity, trying to survive, wondering how to free their brethren, and waiting until the day mankind would be able to accept them again.  Over time a new generation of children were born: demi-monster children, born from and joining the two races together.Enter Laura, a woman at odds with her heritage who will soon be forced to face the very thing she is afraid of.





	1. Pandora's Basket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my brainchild fic. I've had this stewing about in my head for nearly 2 years now. With the help of my friends and my lovely beta reader [Whisper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithAWhisper) I finally was able to get it started. Hope you guys like it.
> 
> And remember, I live for feedback, so let me know what you think. <3

**12 Years Before the Barrier Was Broken**

 

_ Tap Tap Tap _

 

_ Tap Tap Tap _

 

The tapping was coming from the window and by the second round of it, the young girl who had been attempting to sleep threw off her covers and stalked to the window with as much a look of irritation as she could muster.  This time of year the window frame was swollen with humidity and her small arms could only move the window so much.

 

“Carter!”  She hissed out, “Give me a hand with this.”  A second pair of small hands appeared under the lip of the window and together they shoved the window open.  Before she really had time to backup Carter was already slipping into the room and the moment he stood up she shoved him.  “You scared me, doofus, what do you want?  It’s late!”  Carter rubbed his chest, mocking injury.  

 

“You wound me, Laura.”  He said, eyes reflecting in the dim light.  Then he leapt forward and swept her up into a crushing hug.  “Happy Birthday!”  Laura would have laughed, thanked him, or possibly made a joke, but she was having a hard time breathing through the fur on his neck.  It took a few seconds of her flailing her arms and trying to push Carter away before he realized what was happening and released her, eyes downcast sheepishly.  She braced herself on her knees, sucking in air greedily.

 

“-thanks...for that-”  She gasped out, waving off his apologies.  Honestly, she was really happy he was there, after all, it wasn’t every day you turned ten.  Carter’s fangs bared in a large grin and he tugged on his whiskers in excitement. 

 

Like Laura he was a demi-monster, only a few months younger than she was, and he was very proud of his heritage.  From his animalesque low light vision, to the ever growing patches of fur that he loved to use to charge static electricity with which to shock people, even his teeth, carnivorous appetite, and quadrupedal hind legs.  Neither of them were quite sure if he really resembled any particular animal, but he still looked largely human.  Laura’s eyes fell down to his feet, feet that were textured in such a way that he could rarely be convinced to wear shoes.  Something that always lead to him tracking dirt into her room, like he was now, but if ever Laura got onto him for it he always said “Sorry, can’t hear you, I’ve got fur in my ears.”  It was an excuse he used with their teacher’s too.  All in all, Laura had to agree, everything about Carter made him who he was.

 

“Like I was saying, it’s your birthday!”  He finally burst out, “Are you excited?!  You get the talk today right?”  He was practically bouncing off the walls, or rather, practically pulling out his whiskers.

 

“Shut up dude, my parents are downstairs. Not. Asleep.”  Laura gestured at the door for emphasis and he clamped a hand over his mouth.

 

“Are you excited?”  he whispered, loudly.  Laura shrugged. Sure, turning ten was exciting, but it was also a big year too.  

 

“Yea, sorta.”  She said, eyeing her friend curiously.  Something was clearly eating at him.  “Why-”

 

“Promise me you won’t!”  He cut her off.

 

“Won’t what?”

 

“Won’t do it, go human.  Promise me you’ll stay demi-mon with me!”   _ Ah _ , so that's what this was all about.  Laura nearly started laughing.

 

“Dude I don’t even know what I want for Gyftmas!  Plus that’s years before I have to decide, and now I sound like a Pokemon.”  Carter only looked at her expectantly. “What if I wanna travel of something?”  She asked, throwing her hands out into the air.

 

“We’ll be the first monsters back in the world, we will change everything!”  He said, grabbing her hands and holding them.

 

“We aren’t even full monsters, Carter.”  She sighed.

 

“They don’t know that, come on Laura.”  His tone was pleading, he really wanted this.  She looked at the clock.   **12:36 AM.**  Laura huffed and turned back to her furry friend and then she smiled.  

 

“Fine...ok, I promise.  You and me until the end, right?”  Relief smoothed Carter’s face and he grinned wide again.  “Now you have to go,”  She continued, “clean up your mess before you leave or I’m gonna be in big trouble!”  Carter hugged her again tightly, minding his fur this time and then let her shoo him to the window.  Once his tracks were indistinguishable from the rest of the dirt on Laura’s floor he scurried back down the tree outside her window.  

 

“Happy Birthday, again, Laura,” came his whisper as he ran home.

 

**3 Years After the Barrier Fell**

  
  
  
  


“Mom, come on-”

 

“No buts, Hummingbird.”  Laura winced, though her mother couldn’t see it.

 

“It’s been  _ three  _ years mum, don’t you think it would be a little weird for some rando to just walk up and say ‘oh hey, thanks for freeing monsters and shit.’?”  Laura shifted the phone in her hand and huffed, she’d had this self same conversation with her mother multiple times over the past year ever since Laura had called and told her she’d seen the young hero, Frisk, in the city.

 

“I certainly hope you don’t walk up to the child and say  _ shit _ .”  Her mother chided through the receiver making Laura snicker.

 

“Yea, ok, fair point.”

 

“So…”  Laura glanced down at the large gift basket in her hand and rolled her eyes.

 

“It’s just so cheesy, mum.”

 

“Oh good, that means you have it then.”  Her mother said knowingly, and Laura knew she was smiling.

 

“Yea?  Only cause I love you, y’know. Shit-”  Laura felt a chill run down her spine as she spotted the intended receiver for this gift basket across the street.  

 

“Laura?”

 

“I gotta go -”

 

“!!!”  The excited air was nearly palpable through the phone.  “Give them our love dear!”

 

“How do you expect me to-”  And the phone call was cut off.  “Seriously mom?”  Laura groaned and shoved her phone into her pocket.  No backing out now.  She squared her shoulders and then let them slump again.  “Just move your ass, girl.”  She darted across the street ahead of the group before she could psych herself out.  

 

The young teen in question was walking with a rather tall Skeleton and a blue scaled woman, chatting animatedly with them, a school bag on their shoulder.  Laura walked up to the group.

 

“Excuse me.”  Her voice caught and she cleared it, trying again.  “Um, excuse me.”  The tall skeleton nearly walked into Laura before he registered her words and at that point the rest of the trio was looking at her curiously.  “Hi! Uhm...so...my mom wanted me to give this to you.  She, uh,”  Laura took a deep breath and held out the gift basket.  “She wanted to say thank you, for what you did.  You’ve changed a lot of people’s lives.”  She smiled finally, relieved to get the talking bit over with.  It wasn’t like she had a problem talking to strangers, but these strangers...that was a different story.

 

“HUMAN!”  She winced again and looked up quickly at the skeleton as Frisk took the basket from her hands curiously.  He was smiling down at her, a genuine look of appreciation on his face.  “THIS IS A VERY KIND GESTURE!  AND IT CAME AT A MOST OPPORTUNE TIME.”  Laura could only blink in surprise.  

 

“It..it did? Well, I’m glad?”  She looked away from him and back at Frisk and the woman with her, Frisk’s eyes were a little glassy and they were smiling nearly as big as the skeleton was.  Laura felt her soul twist inside of her and she smiled a little more warmly.  “I’m glad.”  She said with more conviction and ran her hand through her hair.  “I won’t keep you any longer, but really, thank you.  My mom’s been a lot more at ease lately thanks to you.”  She turned quickly and darted off, running lightly on the balls of her feet.  The trio started talking excitedly behind her, but within moments she could no longer hear them and she turned down a side alley connecting back towards the college campus.  She slowed to a walk and pulled her phone back out.

 

“Hey mom.”

 

“Laura?”

 

“The package has been delivered.”  Laura said, smiling to herself.

 

“Oh?  Thank you dear.  Did they like it?”

 

“I don’t know.  I didn’t stick around to find out, but I think so.”   _ It had certainly seemed like it at least. _

 

“Did you run off?”

 

“Yea? Of course I did, you know how I feel mom.” Laura’s mom clicked her tongue.

 

“Dear, I doubt they would judge you for-”

 

“Hold that thought mom.”  Laura said as she exited the alley.  She took quick stock of the traffic and then darted across the street and onto the campus.  “Alright go ahead.”

 

“Nevermind.”

 

“Okaaayy.  Well, hey, mission accomplished and all that, but uh, I’m gonna have to let you go: class starts soon.  Love ya mom.”

 

“Love you, too.”  Laura ended the call and checked the time.  She was nearly late.  She broke out into a light jog, crossing the rec field and making her way past the engineering buildings.  Laura burst through the doors and took a breath of relief to notice Terry wasn’t there yet.

 

“Five minutes and twenty two seconds late.”  Came his voice from amongst the students.  Laura whipped her head to the side and zeroed in on his voice amongst the low brass section.  

 

“Damn.”  she said.  A few of the flutists in the front snickered.  “Want me to apologize?”  She asked him when he joined her down in front of the students.

 

“Nah, still better than any of my records.  Give me a hand passing out the copies of today’s sight reading.”  He laughed and motioned her towards the table in the front where he had stacked the music.

 

Laura worked as the assistant teacher to all of Terry’s classes.  Terry was one of the leading music professors in the university and the unofficial assistant director of the college of music there.  He was young too, only in his mid thirties, something Laura still teased him about when he would gush about his time in the Ebbot Orchestra, telling him he could always go back if he wanted.  Despite his nostalgic reminiscences of his post college career in the orchestra he was adamant that he was happy teaching here at the university.  That was something Laura could appreciate, he was a fantastic professor and an even better musician, one of the best in the city by her reckoning though he always denounced that claim.

 

The rest of her day continued decently from there, her nervousness fading as she helped the students where they needed it, and in the later part of the day, filling in for a student to bolster the sound of one of the upperclassmen sections.  After the last class of the day and after she’d finished closing up the music room, Laura bade Terry farewell and headed off to the small on campus cafe.  She was looking forward to her usual order, she went there so often that it became habit to find her order already waiting for her by the time she walked in.

 

“Hey, punk!”  Someone said stiffly and thinking it had nothing to do with her, Laura ignored it and continued on her way.  “Don’t walk away from me!”  Someone grabbed her arm and Laura spun around quickly, her Soul leaping into her throat when she came face to face with the fish monster from before.  A quick glance told her that she was alone.

 

“Let go of me!” Laura said, her voice pitched with the nerves roiling inside of her.

 

“Tell me, why would some human care about the release of monsters?  Why even bother sending, what turned out to be a harmless basket, to Frisk?  Why. Do. You. Care?!”  Cynical skepticism hung on every word she spoke and Laura felt herself react before knowing what she was going to do.  She peeled the woman’s firm grip from her arm.

 

“Because not every human agrees with the majority.”  Laura spat out.  “And not every human wants to see you lot struggle as you have been, or agrees with the captivity in the first place.”  She drew herself up and look the monster square in the eye, daring her, silently, to say anything more about her mother’s motivations.  The woman almost looked taken aback and her sneer softened.  She opened her mouth to respond -

 

“Undyne! You - you’re here early.”  Laura looked past the woman, Undyne, to see a stocky yellow dinosaur monster rushing towards them.  Undyne, on the other hand, turned to address the new monster and in that moment Laura quickly walked away, her nerves sparking within her.  

 

“Oh, I- I’m sorry, I interrupted you and your friend.  Who was sh-”  Was all Laura heard from the monster before she rounded a corner and made her way to the cafe.

 

She had hoped to not have to interact with that group anymore, but at least it didn’t seem like she had been searched out on purpose.

 


	2. The Pied Piper Summoned Rats and Children. I Only Seem to Summon Monsters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2!!! Thanks for the words of encouragement guys, I'm really looking forward to the development of this story. Thanks again to my beta reader Whisper. <3

 

The next day Laura headed to campus early, hoping for some time to use the music room on her own before the day’s classes started.  Terry almost never showed up until just before his first class so that gave her a couple of hours to herself.  When she entered the room she noticed the scrap of paper on the table.  She had made sure the table was clear before leaving the day before so she set down her bags and picked it up.

 

**Laura, I know you’ll be in in a few minutes.  I forgot to warn you about the workshop meeting me and Daniel have this morning.  I should be back by the time classes start, if I’m not you know the drill.**

 -  ** **Terry****

 

 

 _Well, alright then._  Laura tossed the note in the trash and chuckled.  Terry absolutely hated the “workshops” he and the program director were put through, he always came back saying “Well that was a fuckin’ waste of time. As if I don’t know how to teach my damn classes. -”  and then go on a small tirade about the people in charge of these workshops actually teaching a class for once instead of assuming they knew how it worked.

 

Laura snatched up her bag and pulled out her sheet music.  She’d taken it upon herself to expand her skill set to the piano, but without one at home to practice on she had to use the one in the music room.  Reading the music wasn’t the problem, nor was memorizing the layout of the keys.  No, for some reason the trouble came when she needed to read both the treble and bass clef parts at once while translating it to the keys.  She may have versatility amongst the wind instruments and some of the strings, even a natural talent towards music as a whole if you asked her teachers and parents, but something with the piano just didn’t want to click for her.

 

Little over an hour later, Laura was playing through the piece she had brought to practice with her eyes closed.  She’d memorized it instead of trying to read the music.  After yet another stumble she slammed her fingers into the keys, drawing a discordant note from the instrument, and sighed.   _Next time_ , she thought, _maybe._  She closed the cover for the keys and stood up to stretch.  If Terry was in that workshop then that meant there were donuts and coffee there.  One of the perks Terry had lavished upon her for being his assistant was the free food given to the attendees for the workshops and meetings.  

 

On her way back from her donut “thievery” she spied one of the monsters that had managed to get a job on the campus in recent years.  There were a few of them scattered between departments and she was always polite and cordial when interacting with them, much the same as she was with humans she didn’t really know.  This particular monster was pushing one of the janitorial carts, she knew him vaguely because she often passed him leaving the music room in the afternoons talking to Terry.  If she remembered correctly, his name was Sans. Or as Terry put it, “sans body”, since this particular monster was a skeleton.

 

Laura’s phone rang as she drew nearer to Sans, who was moving in the same direction she was.  Carefully balancing her donut on her coffee she brought her phone to her ear.  

 

“Hey El.”  It was Carter.

 

“Hey Carter.”  Laura raised her coffee/donut stack in acknowledgement to Sans when their eyes met.

 

“Your mom said she got you to actually deliver that gift thing, how’d it go?”   _So that’s what this was about._

 

“It went, I delivered the basket and went back to work.”

 

“So you ran off.  Were they nice?”  She could practically see Carter bouncing on his hind legs.

 

“Yea, I mean they weren’t particularly rude considering some stranger just walked up, handed them a gift basket and then bailed.  Well, one of them did grab me later.  She had a healthy sense of skepticism I’ll give her that.”  Laura mused, recalling the day before.

 

“Shit, seriously?  Were you like… in trouble or something?”  He asked.

 

“Nah, I don’t think so?  I mean...the whole thing sucked, but I’m glad I could do that for mom, y’know?  Plus, it’s not like the kid doesn’t deserve it, more than that honestly.”

 

“True.  Hey, you gonna come home to visit?”  Laura’s steps slowed at his question and she hesitated before answering.  

 

“No, probably not.  I should...but it’s a long drive and I just…”  
  
“It’s alright, El, I get it.”  And while Carter understood, Laura could hear the disappointment in his voice.

 

“What about you, you could always come visit me.”  She pointed out.

 

“You know damn well I can’t, not unless I get on the pill.  They still haven’t lifted that rule yet.”  Laura heard a thumping in the background.

 

“Calm down, we’ll get there.  You’ll be out in the world in no time, until then...I’ll think about coming home for a bit.”  Laura said soothingly.  The thumping petered out.  So she was right, he had been tapping his foot in irritation.

 

“Yea, you’re right, I know you’re right.  It can’t be much longer now...if it is...I might just bust outta here on my own.  Can’t keep us a secret if they can’t catch me!”

 

“Carter!”  

 

“What?”

 

Laura sighed and closed her eyes, her footsteps stalling.  “Just don’t get yourself killed, alright?”

 

“Well, duuuh!  But hey, you’ve got classes soon, I’ll talk to you later. You and me ‘til the end, remember.”  And before she could respond he hung up leaving her with a twisting Soul and a loss of appetite.  It had been years since she last returned their old farewell, not since…-  she looked at the donut on top of her coffee and shoved her phone in her pocket.  She didn’t even want to look at it.  Laura turned and after locating Sans again she walked over to him.

 

“Sans, right?”  Said skeleton froze and turned a lazy grin on Laura, leaning against his cart.

 

“yea? what can i do for yeh?”  His voice was low, and as lazy as his smile.  He was the complete opposite of that skeleton from the day before.  Did they know each other, she wondered.

 

“Hey, you hungry?  I got this from the workshop in the office building, but I’m not really feeling hungry.”  She held the donut out to him.  His eyelights shifted from the offering to her face quizzically, but he made no motion to take it.  “Look, either you take it or it ends up in the trash, either way it’s gonna end up with you in the end.”  She joked lightly, trying to put him at ease.  It worked.  His smile grew a little and he laughed.

 

“heh, alright.  no need to twist my arm about it.”  Sand plucked the donut from her hand and saluted her with it.  “thanks, kid.”  

 

“Anytime. Well, be seein ya.”  Laura said, turning to leave.

 

“hey, kid wait.”  Sans said.  Laura paused and turned to look at him. “my bro said he met a human yesterday that surprised frisk with a gift basket. i couldn’t help overhearing your conversation, that was you, wasn’t it.”  It was more a statement than a question and Laura felt her stomach drop further.

 

“Oh, was that your brother?  Cool dude, loud, but happy.  Reminded me of my friend from back home. Hope they liked it though.”  She said, eyes not meeting his face.  Then she turned and left.  Sans made no effort to go after her or say anything else, he just watched her go.  After she disappeared into the building his smile shifted a little, then he shrugged, ate the donut in one bite, and went back to what he was doing.

 

By the time Friday rolled around Laura was finally relaxing again.  She hadn’t had anymore run ins with the monsters from, apparently, the ambassadors inner circle.  Of course Carter was adamant she talk to them, get to know them.  Maybe they could help get her own people out into the world too.  While Laura had to agree he had a point, she didn’t want to be the one to open that bag.  Besides, why would they believe her?  She looked human, she built her life around that lie, if she let that crumble everything could be lost.

 

A couple hours after Friday’s late rehearsal for an upcoming student performance she joined Terry and a couple of the grad students for drinks.  It was Terry’s turn to pick the location and just as the late summer sun was setting Laura found herself seated between Terry and a grad student named Alaine at the local dueling piano bar.  Their little group went at least once or twice a month so it was no surprise when the woman behind the bar sent over their usual drinks as soon as Terry opened his tab to cover the first round.  Over the years, this bar had been mostly human in patronage, but lately it had started to draw a more diverse crowd.  Today one of the pianists was a rabbit monster.  

 

It seemed as if tonights pair of players had worked together before because as the song requests came in, the rabbit monster took most of the faster paced songs while the human player took some of the more intricate or obscure ones.  Both players were on point, even as the night got into full swing and they’d already played for a couple of hours.

 

A couple drinks in Laura’s group started bursting into song with each one that was played.  Even if they didn’t know the lyrics they belted it out, louder than most of the people in the bar.  Not that this was an unusual occurrence, all of them being affiliated with the college of music at the university, but it certainly lead to a fun evening.  Laura didn’t join in singing though, she hummed along and kept the rim of her drink to her lips, smiling around it.

 

After a few hours and more than couple of drinks her group decided it was time to head out.  Laura was ready to go home, and Terry seemed ready to call it a night “before I forget where I parked my car” as he stated.  

 

The group sort of milled around outside of the dueling piano bar for a few minutes deciding if they wanted to call it or go somewhere for food and more drinks.

 

“Come on, a new bar opened a while ago and I’ve heard it’s pretty good.  It’s been getting great reviews by some of the students anyway.”  Alaine said, heading off in that general direction.  Most of the group joined her immediately leaving Laura to tug Terry along.

 

“You and me need to sober up a bit more.”  She told him when he started to protest, which got him to shut up.  

 

“Alright, you win, but there are buses you know.”

 

“Yea, I know.  And I’m not driving your ass back downtown tomorrow to get your car when the buses aren’t running.”  She sassed.

 

It only took a handful of minutes to reach this new bar, and from the outside it sure looked nicer than most the places downtown.  Laura would have noticed how nice the inside was as well if it weren’t for the fact the bar had been crawling with monsters.  A few patrons turn to look at her group when they enter and she felt as if they could see right through her.  It made her skin crawl and her nerves fire off, telling her to turn around and leave.  Which she nearly did, except Terry was pulling her through the crowd to the bar, right where Sans was sitting.  Confusion flashed through before she brushed it off as coincidence.  After all it was a Friday, who was she to assume he didn’t have a life.  

 

Terry was already laughing from some joke or another that the grinning skeleton had laid on him, being tipsy as he was his laughter was a good deal louder than usual, it helped ease Laura a little with her new surroundings.  She took a seat at the bar and turned to survey the area around her.  Now that she looked properly she noticed that there were actually a good few humans in this bar as well, not as many as there were monsters, but enough to clearly denote the open atmosphere this place held.  The grad students in her group had immediately ordered drinks and were talking excitedly amongst themselves.

 

Laura’s eyes darted around calculatingly at all the monsters in one place.  She hadn’t seen this many monsters since she’d left home.  From the fire elemental running the bar to the winged lizard lady he was talking to, to the dog monsters, the fish and scaled ones, bird monsters, plant monsters.  There were so many in one place that an odd sense of pain tinged nostalgia washed through her, and in a moment of whimsy she snapped a picture of her and her surroundings for Carter.

 

Moment’s later she got a response.

 

***DUDE SERIOUSLY!???  THATS FANTASTIC!!!!**

 

Before she could respond she heard Terry start to order a drink.  Immediately she launched forward and pulled him away from the suddenly confused elemental.

 

“Sorry, but no alcohol for him.”  She told the bartender who crackled with silent laughter.  “Terry, you order that drink and you’re on your own this weekend. Remember that.”

 

“Spoil sport.”  He said, and foreign laughter drew her eyes over to Sans who was leaning over a bottle of ketchup while he laughed.   She rolled her eyes a little and turned her attention back to the elemental.

 

“Water, tea, coffee if you have it.  Anything to help sober up.”  She requested, and after a moment of thought said he had just the thing.  A couple of minutes later he returned with a couple cups of coffee.  It looked like that wasn’t something he served often, probably from a personal pot in the back, but she thanked him enthusiastically nonetheless.  “Here, drink this.”  Laura said putting the cup in Terry’s hands.

 

Terry raised his mug, “cheers”, and drank half of it in one go.  Laura shook her head and nursed her own coffee.

 

For the next hour Terry talked to Sans, who in turn tried to pull Laura into the conversation.  She could tell he kept wanting to ask her more questions about earlier that week, but she kept her half of the conversation to polite small talk, skirting any bait he laid out to pull her into the topic he wanted.  Finally, when her coffee was mostly gone and cold, and her head was clearer than it had been when she left the school she drained the rest of the cup and paid for her coffee.  

 

“Terry, I’m out.  Sans, don’t let him drink anything.”  She said as she got ready to leave.

 

“ _donut_ worry, kid, i got him covered.”  Sans joked.  Laura blinked and looked at him, a small smile tugging on her lips.  

 

“Yea, ok.  Night then.”

  


Monday, as Laura was heading across the bit of campus that separated the music building from the nearest parking lot she heard the sound of clawed feet pounding on the pavement and just barely dodged out of the way as the yellow dinosaur monster from before ran past her.

 

“S-sorry! Excuse m-”  she stopped and looked at who she had nearly run over.  “You’re Laura!  Sans said you were the one who gave Frisk the gift basket!”  Laura felt her back stiffen.

 

_Was there no escape from this group???_

 


	3. Someone Once Told Me That All Paths Lead to the Same Place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Gyftmas Everyone, have a surprise third chapter. I've got my huge, little brother in town with me this week so It probably wont be until next week when I get the next chapter up. Hope you enjoy!

Laura balked at the enthusiasm in the monster’s voice.  Unwilling to just appear rude and walk away from her, she stood her ground, even as the monster continued to speak.  

 

“Undyne told me about you as well, and Frisk seemed to like you.  They certant-certainly liked the gift you gave them.”  She clasped her hands together, the sudden movement causing her glasses to slip down her snout a little.  “It reminded me of a scene from Mew Mew Kissy Cutey when one of the side characters showed up at MewMew’sjobwithabasketforthanksforhelpingthemwiththeirexams and … oh”  She stopped, yellow scales tinging red from embarrassment.  “I-I’m sorry, I got a little off tangent.”  She perked up.  “Still!  I’m really happy I got to meet the human that did such a kindness for Frisk.  They-they’re really special, you know? They could use more human friends I think.”  The reptilian monster looked a little sad.  “N-not that we aren’t good friends to them, it’s just…”  She trailed off completely and rubbed her claws together in discomfort. 

 

“Hey, uh….”  Laura started, shifting her bag on her shoulder.

 

“Alphys.”  Alphys said, face burning redder at the realization that she hadn’t even given her name yet.

 

“Alphys.  It’s alright,”  Laura said with a small smile, “really. I get it. But, uh.”  she pointed at Alphys with her forefinger extended from around her coffee mug.  “Aren’t you running late or something?”  At the mention of being late Alphys jumped a little and a distressed noise left her.

 

“I am. O-oh dear, I have to run!”  She turned to leave, calling as she left.  “It was a pleasure to meet you!”  

 

Laura lowered her arm slowly. “Oh, uh, yea.  Same...see ya.”  Her last words falling quietly on the now empty sidewalk.  Her eyebrows lowered and drew together and her lips pressed into a thin line. 

 

The rest of the day she remained in the building, ordering a sub for delivery for lunch and trying her best to not psych herself out.  They were just friendly is all, after a while they would forget about her and life would go back to normal  Right?  Gods, she hoped so.  

 

She changed her route leaving the building that day, detouring around the engineering buildings to get to the cafe and then following her usual path from there to her car.  And the next day she walked a small detour to get to the music building.  She figured she could get more exercise and possibly not run into the ambassador’s friends.  Win-win.  But just as she was rounding the corner of one building, she spotted Sans across the road, looking as if he had just come out of the building across from her.  He smiled in her direction, well he was always smiling, and she nodded her head and went on her way.

 

So she changed her route leaving that day.  

 

Just as she thought she was in the clear again, there was Sans, giving her a lazy two finger salute as he entered a different building with his cart.  Why did he even push that cart around, most buildings had supplies in them.  

 

The next morning she changed her route again.  She took a route past some of the dorms near the architecture building, not too far out of the way, but scenic enough that she thought she’d be safe.  She was rounding the East dining hall when she spotted Sans.  

 

Again.  

 

Laura’s brow scrunched up in confusion.  Sans was wiping down some of the tables inside of the dining hall, but that didn’t make sense.  From her observations, Laura knew that anyone on the janitorial crew usually only handled a few assigned buildings.  How many did Sans have assigned anyway?

 

Before he could spot her she turned and headed behind the nearest dorm and beelined for the music building.

 

That afternoon she took yet a different route, going behind the chemistry buildings and following the path around that corner of campus to the cafe and her car. And leaning against the back of the Chem building was Sans, eating what looked like a hot dog and completely oblivious to the world.

 

The next morning she saw him again.

 

And again.

 

And again.

 

And again.

 

For nearly a week she tried to find a route that didn’t take her into his path, or anyone else's, and for a week he always seemed to be right where she was trying to go. Even when she walked around the entirety of the North of campus to the outside of it and then walked along the outskirts to her car she saw him, lounging on a park bench and drinking ketchup.  His eyes caught hers before she could look away, and followed her even as she strode away with a stiff back and hunched shoulders.

 

Monday morning Laura was so fed up with the whole thing that she returned to her normal route almost out of spite.  With how erratic her route had been lately, she half hoped that returning to her path now would mean she was in the clear for a bit, and as she neared the music building she thought she was.

 

“yeh’re avoidin someone.”  Sans said suddenly from beside her, pushing his cart in front of him.  How had she not heard the damn cart, the right front wheel rattled like a damn tic tac box!  Laura pursed her lips and breathed through her nose.  Yes, she had been trying to avoid someone, but it didn’t seem to be fucking working!

 

“yeh’re avoidin us.”  Sans said simply.

 

“Not very well!”  Laura snapped.  Her face instantly colored in shame and she flinched away from Sans.

 

“y’know, kid,” Sans said, “the way you act doesn’t spell ‘monster hater’.  so what’s your problem with monsters anyway?”

 

“It’s monsters who have a problem with me.”  Laura said quietly, her eyes trained on the music building, wanting nothing more than to sprint towards it and away from the suddenly piercing stare of the skeleton beside her.

 

Sans opened his mouth, looking at Laura, noting the way she hunched her shoulders and refused to meet his gaze.  After a moment he closed his mouth again and walked in silence beside her, mulling over all the new information in his head.

 

“what happened, kid?”  He asked finally.

 

Laura’s jaw clenched.  “It doesn’t matter anymore.”  She lengthened her strides and left Sans behind, who stopped altogether to watch her go, concern etched into his skull.

  
  


For the next couple of weeks, no matter what route Laura took she didn’t see any sign of Sans, not when she didn’t look and especially not when she did.  It wasn’t like she missed seeing him everywhere she went, it had kind of freaked her out a little, but did this mean none of the monsters were going to bother her anymore either?  Had it really been that easy?

 

As Laura was cleaning up the room at the end of the day she called Carter and told him about what had happened with Sans.  When she mentioned having seen Sans everywhere she went Carter burst out laughing over the phone.

 

“Maybe he likes you.”  The sound of thudding and guffaws echoed from the receiver.  “Maybe - haaa - maybe that’s why he was following you~”  He dissolved into laughter again causing Laura to start laughing a little as well.

 

“Oh gods.  Oh GODS! Carter no! Don’t you even go there!”  She said, leaning against one of the chairs as her laughter died quickly.

 

“Aw, what’s wrong El?  Not enough meat on his bones for you?”  Carter snickered agan and even Laura had to bite her lip.

 

“That’ not the problem, fuzzball, I do  _ not _ need a stalker in my life right now! Or Ever!!”  

 

“Oh shit, yea….now that you -”

 

The door to the music room swung open.

 

“Hang on,” Laura said to Carter turning towards the door.  “Sorry, class is over.  You just missed Terr- Oh.”  It was Frisk.  “How did you find me?”  Ok, maybe she should have asked how they were doing first, but honestly it was still a very valid question.  

 

Regardless on what she should have asked first Frisk seemed unperturbed.  “My friend works on campus and helped me find you.”  

 

“Yea...ok...but why?”

 

“THAT WAS MY IDEA!”  Papyrus ducked into the room behind Frisk, avoiding the banners over the door.


	4. My Skeletons Follow Me Down The Street

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayy, Chapter 4 everybody. Struggled a bit with this one, but thanks again to Whisper for hanging in there with me.
> 
> Honestly, there is no escape for Laura, the real question is how long until she just gives in? And how long until the truth comes out. 
> 
> And honestly, who can say no to Papyrus.

“THAT WAS MY IDEA!”  

 

Laura’s mouth thinned as she struggled to keep her thoughts to herself.  “THERE ARE A LOT MORE NUMBERS ON THE SURFACE THAN THE UNDERGROUND, AND TRYING TO FIND YOURS BY RUNNING THROUGH THE COMBINATIONS MANUALLY WOULD HAVE TAKEN FAR TOO LONG.  THIS WAS MUCH EASIER.”  

 

“Easier?  For what?”  Laura asked dryly.

 

“WHY TO GET YOUR NUMBER OF COURSE, THEN WE CAN HANG OUT!  IT ISN’T EVERYDAY WE MAKE A NEW FRIEND.”  Papyrus beamed down at her and Frisk shrugged apologetically.  Laura stopped her hand from smacking her forehead, but only just.  Instead she slowed it and then gently pressed it to her forehead in mild exasperation.  

 

“Listen big guy, that’s not how that works on the surface.”

 

“MY NAME IS PAPYRUS, HUMAN LAURA AND...WELL…”  Papyrus was quiet for a moment, “IT WORKED DIDN’T IT?”   _ Oh Carter would  _ l o v e  _ him _ , she thought.  

 

“Yes, well, that’s not what I -”

 

“SEE!  REGARDLESS OF THE METHOD, THE OUTCOME IS THE SAME!”  Laura looked pleadingly to Frisk, surely this kid understood where this could have gone horribly wrong.  The look on their face made it perfectly clear that yes, they did know, and no, there was nothing they could have done about it.  Laura sighed, well, she was in it now.

 

“Alright then, come on, I need to lock up for the day, I’ll meet you outside.”  Frisk nodded their confirmation and pushed Papyrus out the door even as he tried to offer his help in cleaning up.  Once the door was shut behind them, Laura sat down at Terry’s desk and put her face in her hands. 

 

Was it too late to run the other way?

 

No...not really, but did she want to risk blowing off the ambassador to monsterkind?  And their self proclaimed mascot?  Yea, once she’d heard his name Laura knew exactly who Papyrus was.  And the answer was no, no she didn’t.  The kid was sweet, and their friends warmed Laura’s soul no matter her fears.  

 

After a few more minutes of straightening the room she locked the exit and then shuffled her way out the front door, locking it behind her as she went.  Standing on the sidewalk under one of the dedicated campus trees were Frisk and Papyrus.   _ One last chance to run. _  She told herself even as she walked over to join them.

 

“So you teach music here?”  Frisk asked when she drew level with them.

 

“Nah, just an assistant, sometimes I cover for the prof when he’s out though, it’s not too hard.”  Laura responded.

 

“Do you play?”  Frisk started walking, leading the small group down the sidewalk towards the edge of campus  

 

“Yea, on my own mostly, or with the class when they need me to fill in for practice.”  

 

“A HUMAN OF MANY TALENTS I SEE.”  Papyrus commented.  Laura kept her face still before smiling a little.

 

“I don’t know about that, but thanks...I guess.”  Laura shrugged her bag higher up on her shoulder, avoiding Papyrus’ warm smile.  After a moment of walking with them she glanced over to the young ambassador.  “Hey my c-”

 

“We’re going to the flower shop on Oak Street.”  Frisk said, cutting Laura off.  “D’you wanna join us?  It could be fun.” Laura stumbled and looked over at Frisk.

 

“OH YES!  AFTER ALL, WE NEVER GOT THE CHANCE TO REALLY GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER THE LAST TIME WE MET.”  Papyrus interjected.  Laura’s eyes shifted up to the tall skeleton.  He looked so hopeful, almost as if he believed it impossible for anyone to want to say no, and if she was being honest with herself a part of her didn’t want to.  These were genuine and kind people.  The duo took Laura’s silence as a silent admission and wasted no time in pulling her along with them.

 

Out of the corner of her eye Laura spotted something she hadn’t seen a short while.  Sans’ cart.  And not far from it was the smirking skeleton himself, who’s grin only grew with a shrug when he saw her glaring at him.

 

The flower shop was only a couple of blocks from the campus, but it wasn’t a place Laura had visited much on her own.  Actually she had never gone herself, but she was familiar with their work.  It was the same place her parents had gone to get her a bouquet for graduation. 

 

Inside the shop was a rainbow of life, the last of the summer flowers and the first of the autumn flowers filling the air with a variety of scents that nearly made Laura’s head spin.  She watched Papyrus wander over to the gardening section and immediately hail the attention of one of the workers.

 

“EXCUSE ME, MISS, BUT I WAS THINKING OF STARTING A GARDEN FOR USE IN MY CULINARY ADVENTURES, DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS?”  The young woman in question balked only for a moment at the sight and sound of the monster calling to her before she adopted a warm smile and walked over to show him which seed packets might suit his needs best and how to start a garden properly.

 

Laura picked up a nearby flower and brought it to her nose, letting its scent drown out the others in the building.  “So, uh...what’re the flowers for?”  She asked Frisk.

 

“My mom.  I thought it would be nice to get her something...well..nice.”  Frisk said.  They leaned down to sniff at a basket of lillies.  “D’you think these would be good?”  Frisk looked up from the basket to Laura, who put her own flower back and pulled her mouth to the side in thought.

 

“Dunno, kid.  Guess it depends on what she likes, y’know color, smells.  That kinda stuff.”  Laura shrugged.

 

“Oh.”  Frisk turned back to the flowers for a moment and Laura’s eyes narrowed.

 

“Ok, what’s up, squirt.  You’re acting the same way my friend used to when he made me help with his chores so he could ask his parents for something.  What are you buttering your mom up for?”  Laura’s arms crossed just under her chest.

 

Frisk picked up a couple of snapdragons and bluebells and played with combining them in their hands.  “What about these?”  They asked, avoiding Laura’s question with blatant misdirection.  Laura looked over at Papyrus and then huffed.  “Alright, alright.  I want my mom to let me sleep over at my friend’s house.” 

 

“It’s a school night.”  Laura said with amusement.

 

“I  _ know _ , but she got a new game recently and we really want to play it, and mom wouldn’t let me go if she knew what the game was even if it wasn’t a school night.”  Frisk threw their hands up in frustration.  Laura blinked at the kid in amused appreciation.  It wasn’t like they’d known each other for years, but Frisk was treating Laura like an old friend, somehow bringing her into the fold of their life with such ease it had Laura reeling.  

 

It was no wonder that this was the kid that freed the monsters, but what had they endured to do so, she wondered.

 

“Uh….huh….what game is it?”  

 

“I...well I don’t think it’s one you’d know about.”  Frisk said with uncertainty, putting the flowers back and turning to face Laura.

 

“Cause I’m an adult?  Too  _ old  _ to know all the hip new games you whippersnappers are playing these days?”  Laura asked.

 

“No, it’s not th-”

 

“Well back in my day,”  Laura continued dramatically, her voice taking on a mocking, elderly tone, “We had to save our games to memory cards and the consoles used to tear up the game discs.  You kids, with you new fangled game cards and tiny controllers.  I’ll have you know the size of the controllers alone could damage the t.v..”  She started rounding her shoulders and walking around in a bit a of a circle as if she were pacing, wagging her finger at Frisk everytime she made eye contact.  Frisk on the other hand was struggling not to laugh, and looking mildly embarrassed.

 

“Ok, ok, I get it-”

 

“And for that matter,”  Laura raised her finger to the sky, “I used to have to wait in line in the middle of the night for a new game to release.  In the cold.  In the RAIN even!  You youngins know nothing o-”

 

“ALRIGHT!”  Frisk said, waving their hands to get Laura’s attention.  “I get it, I’m sorry.”  They looked back over at Papyrus, still talking to the young woman, and then back at Laura.  “It’s called  Dazed Dreaming .  It’s this like fighting game, supposed to be pretty funny, and-”

 

“Yea, I know it.”  Laura said, amusement pulling her mouth to the side in a smile.

 

“Wait...seriously?”

 

“Yea, don’t look so surprised kid.  One day you’re gonna grow up and realize that even once you’re classified as an adult, you sure as hell aren’t gonna feel like one.”  Frisk rubbed at the back of their neck.  “Anyway, yea I know it.  Never played it myself, but my friend streamed it for me so I could watch him play it.  It’s not that bad ‘a game.”  She continued, eyes unfocusing as she ran through what she remembered of the game in her mind.  It was brutal, literally just a game made to fight and kill enemies with little story plot.  It had great one liners, some references to drugs and alcohol, and plenty of swearing, if she remembered correctly there were a few suggested adult themes, but those were in the form of bad jokes and one liners.  She saw worse on tv on a regular basis.  She shrugged to herself, if she had a kid Frisk’s age, she’d let them play it, but it wasn’t up to her to decide was the young teen could or couldn’t do.  

 

The ambassador in question was nearly bouncing on their feet waiting in bated silence for Laura to give her verdict.

 

“Look, your ambassadorness,” Frisk snorted.  “I’m not your mom so I’m not gonna sit here and say it’s fine and go for it, but I’m not gonna rat you out either.”  Their face fell at Laura’s words.  “What I will do,”  She walked over to a basket of vibrant premade bouquets that she’d noticed had the most pleasant collection of scents so far.  “Is suggest you get these for your mother.”

 

“THOSE ARE BEAUTIFUL!” Laura jerked back violently in surprise.  When had Papyrus gotten behind them?  She turned to look at the skeleton with narrowed eyes as Frisk picked up one of the bouquets Laura had pointed out.  “I’M SORRY, I DIDN’T MEAN TO STARTLE YOU.” Papyrus said, correctly discerning the look on Laura’s face.  After a moment her glare melted into more of an exasperated look of forgiveness.

 

“It’s fine.  Impressive really, someone as loud as you being so stealthy.”  She followed Frisk to the counter.  Papyrus already had a bag of the items he had wanted to purchase.

 

“I WILL TAKE THAT AS A COMPLIMENT.”  He said, without missing a beat, and beamed at her.  Laura shook her head, smiling a little.

  
  


Once Frisk was finished paying they managed to get Laura wrapped into a conversation along with Papyrus about his plans for his garden.  Laura didn’t have much of a green thumb, but her dad enjoyed the act so it wasn’t too hard to share what knowledge she did have.  

 

Admittedly, the monster’s enthusiasm for his new project was contagious.  Before she could catch herself, Laura found herself saying how she would like to see the results of his efforts once the plants grew in, if they survived the winter that is, which only seemed to make him that much more determined.

 

It was as the conversation was shifting from gardens to the puzzles Papyrus was planning on hiding in his garden that they arrived at the doorstep of what Laura quickly discovered was Frisk’s house.  A place she had had no intention of going to.  Ever.  She paused and looked at Frisk who only smiled innocently.

 

“You should meet my mom. Since you’re here and all.”  Frisk said sweetly, and just from the tone of their voice Laura knew exactly that that had been the plan all along.  And given the circumstances, she also knew it wasn’t just because of the gift basket.  Oh-ho-ho no.  This was another part of Frisk’s plan to butter up their mother so they could go play that game later that night.  If it had been any other kid, and any other mother Laura might not have cared, but this was the Queen of all Monsters.  

 

“Ohhh no, I am  _ not _ flirting with your mom just so you can butter her up so she will let you out tonight.”  Laura said, trying to hide her growing fear behind a poor joke.  Frisk opened their mouth to retort, but was cut off by a suddenly indignant Papyrus.

 

“FRISK!  I CERTAINLY HOPE YOU ARE NOT PLANNING TO SNEAK OUT TONIGHT.  I KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ASKING FORGIVENESS RATHER THAN PERMISSION, BUT AS YOUR FRIEND I REALLY MUST INSIST THAT YOU-”  The front door opened.

 

“Papyrus? Frisk?  What are you two doing standing outside?”  Toriel had heard Papyrus from within the house and come to investigate.  Laura swallowed thickly, having to look up to meet the curious gaze of the Queen.  “And who is this?”  

 

“YOUR MAJESTY.”  Papyrus said.  “FRISK IS PLAN-”

 

“Hi, I’m Laura.”  Laura stepped forward and held out her hand to Toriel, interrupting Papyrus much to the relief of Frisk.  “It’s uh, very nice to meet you, Your Majesty.”  Toriel broke out into a large smile and chuckled.

 

“There is no need to call me that, as I have told Papyrus here plenty of times; Toriel will do just fine, dear.”  She took Laura’s hand just as it had begun to shake and shook it warmly.  As soon as she released it Laura stepped back to where she was and hid her hands behind her back.  Let them think she was nervous about meeting royalty, hell, let them think she was frightened of the big bad monster if they wanted, she didn’t rightly care about much more than finding a way out of this mess.  Toriel’s eyes softened and she looked at her adopted child, who only grinned back.  This was, of course, their doing.

 

“Well come in then.”  Toriel said opening the door wider and stepping aside.  Instead, Frisk pulled the flowers from behind their back, silently offering them to their mother.  Toriel reached for the flowers with a gasp of delight and took them gently from Frisk’s hand.  “They’re beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.”  She brought them close to her nose and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply.  “And they smell divine!  Oh, my child, thank you, I love them.”  She was smiling bigger than before and kneeled down to pull Frisk into a tight hug.  

 

It was such a warm scene, Laura couldn’t help but a small smile of her own.  Even if the kid did have an ulterior motive for getting the flowers it was always nice to see how happy something as simple as flowers could make someone.

 

“She helped, mom.”  Frisk said when they were free again, immediately drawing the attention right back to Laura.  All warmth from the moment before fled her body.   _ God dammit kid. _

 

“First the gift basket and now the flowers, you are very sweet, Laura.”  Toriel said, noting the tight look in Laura’s eyes.  “Really, I insist, come in with us for a bit.”

 

“Yes, please.”  Frisk said.  Laura looked from mother to child and then even at Papyrus who, since being interrupted yet again earlier, hadn’t said a word.  

 

“I’m terribly sorry, but my car’s back on campus and I really need to get to it before the sun sets.”  That was good, plausible, true even.  All three of their faces fell slightly.

 

“ARE YOU SURE WE CAN’T CONVINCE YOU TO STAY FOR A WHILE?”  Papyrus asked, causing Frisk’s eyes to light up.

 

“I-”  Laura started. 

 

“It’s quite alright, dear, I understand.  Wait right here for a moment though, would you?”  Toriel said, looking Laura over briefly before disappearing inside with the flowers.  

 

Moments later, before Laura could even consider obeying the request or not, Toriel returned with a paper plate wrapped in foil.  It smelled strongly of cinnamon and caramel...no...butterscotch?  

 

“Here you are, a small token of thanks.”  She said.

 

“You really don’t need to-” The plate was forced into Laura’s hands.  “Oh...ok...well thank you.”  She stammered out.  After a few more seconds of awkwardly standing there with the plate in hand she scuffed her foot on the stoop and bade them farewell, taking the stairs slowly and then forcing herself to walk back towards campus as casually as she could.  Luckily for Laura, a good many monsters including Toriel and Frisk, lived in the old historic district of the downtown area.  It was labeled as historic since it was one of the few places in town that hadn’t fallen to natural disasters or demolished for the growth of the city, but it was so run down no one had been willing to live there.  The monsters were though, they had the means and the money to fix all the old houses and in a way, turned the historic district into the monster district, though monsters did live all over the city. 

 

As it were, it would only take her twenty minutes to make it back to her car if she didn’t get distracted or -

 

“OH! I NEARLY FORGOT, THIS IS FOR YOU.”  Once again, Papyrus’ ability to sneak up behind her caught Laura off guard.  

 

“What?”  She gripped the plate tightly from her being startled.

 

“THIS.”  Papyrus fell into step beside Laura and handed her the flower she had picked up to clear her nose of the smell of the flower shop when she’d first walked in.  It was a single stalk of white Freesia, there were a couple of blooms on it and a few leaves.  Stunned she took it from him and brought it to her nose again.  She had picked it up before because it was sweet and strong, easily helping her focus her sense of smell amongst all the other flowers in the shop when she’d put it back.  It reminded her a little of candy, something sugary.

 

“Thank you...Papyrus.”  She said softly.  Laura kept her eyes on the sidewalk and the flower in her hand, her brow drawn in confusion.  She could practically feel the pleased smile he was wearing.

 

“YOU ARE MOST WELCOME!  I TOO WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU!”  Papyrus kept pace with her.

 

“Not you too…”  She mumbled.  “Why?”  She asked louder.

 

“FOR BEING KIND, AND FOR BEING OUR FRIEND. YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO COME WITH US, OR GIVE FRISK THE GIFT, OR EVEN HUMOR US BARGING INTO YOUR CLASSROOM. YOU EVEN PUT UP WITH MY BONEHEAD OF A BROTHER FROM WHAT HE HAS TOLD ME.”  Papyrus tapped his finger up and down in the air as he listed off his reasons.  

 

Each one he did Laura immediately felt a response bubble up inside of her.  She was kind because it was polite.  She didn’t even know if she was their friend, it hadn’t been her intention to be, not even a little bit.  The gift basket was for her mother’s sake.  She couldn’t rightly just force people out of a classroom on campus rudely, and saying no to the ambassador of monsters, or her ancestors just felt wrong.  In the case of Sans though...she wouldn’t exactly call that whole thing “putting up with” him.

 

She didn’t say a single word of that.

 

“I wouldn’t say that, but, you’re welcome, I guess.  Thanks.”  Laura fell silent, hoping that would be the end of it and he would go back to his own friends.  

 

He didn’t.

 

“Are you...following me?  Papyrus?”  She asked after they’d walked a block in silence.

 

“OH! NO!  I...WELL I HAD INTENDED TO ESCORT YOU BACK TO YOUR CAR. I GUESS I DIDN’T ACTUALLY SAY THAT PART OUT LOUD BEFORE, BUT HERE WE ARE AND HERE I AM.”  When she looked up at him she noticed his cheeks were lit up with magic.  He was embarrassed by his own slip up.  She groaned inwardly.

 

“You really don’t have to do that.”  She shook her head as she spoke, sighing in defeat.  She really wasn’t going to tell him no either.

 

“I WILL ADMIT, I WASN’T QUITE READY TO SAY GOODBYE TO A NEW FRIEND JUST YET EITHER.”  He laughed and it almost sounded like, no, yea he really did just say ‘nyehehe’ as his laugh.  Laura pressed her lips into a firm line to keep from smiling.

 

“Papyrus-”  She sighed again.  “Yea, ok. Do what you want man.”  She said and he laughed again.  They lapsed back into silence for another street before the excitement she could feel building in the monster next to her finally burst and he settled into a long winded explanation of the puzzles he was looking forward to showing her in his garden.  He asked her what kinds of puzzles she liked, but she kept her answers brief, only going into more detail when he pushed her on a particular answer she had given.  

 

It was easy to talk to Papyrus, especially when he didn’t seem to expect anything from her, even easier when she managed to get him off the topic of puzzles for the time being.

 

A few blocks away from the campus she heard the sound of pounding feet on the sidewalk and stepped to the side thinking it was a jogger trying to pass them.  Instead the footsteps hit the ground hard just behind them and a figure jumped forward pulling Papyrus down into a headlock.

 

“UNDYNE PLEASE!  NOT NOW, DON’T NOOGIE THE SKELETON!”  Papyrus cried out, trying to unhook the death grip Undyne had on him.  

 

Laura felt her back straighten and the small smile she had been wearing fade.  

 

Undyne stopped and looked up from Papyrus, still holding him down in a headlock.  Her one good eye zeroed in on Laura and her smile shifted into a smirk.

 

“‘Sup, punk.”

 

_ God dammit. _


	5. You don’t always get to choose your friends, I sure didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me to Laura: Could you, oh i dunno, just be try to be friends? A little?
> 
> Laura to me: *flips a bird* Shove off.
> 
> ~~
> 
> But hey there guys, chapter 5! Thank you to Paige for beta reading for me!! 
> 
> ALSO for any one interested, I have made a playlist for HRW. Comprised of songs for moods, motivations, future stuff, secret stuff, and characters. 
> 
> [Playlist Here](https://open.spotify.com/user/vividlylost/playlist/6R9yj6Ca5cUjzoimupgvFZ?si=ESZAViaCTE689UtJRBAf6w)

“Are you serious?”  Laura asked the sky with complete and utter exasperation.  “This is freaking ridiculous!”  Papyrus and Undyne exchanged a look and she released him from the headlock.

 

“WHAT’S WRONG, HUMAN LAURA?”  Papyrus asked, noting when Laura flinched at his words.

 

“This.  Look ever since last month you guys are everywhere!”  The hand that held the flower jerked in the air aimlessly.

 

Undyne’s eye narrowed.  “You guys?  You mean monsters, don’t you.”  There was no denying the hint of contempt in her voice.

 

“No, not monsters.”  Laura looked Undyne right in the eye, Royal Guardsman or not.  “Specifically  _ you _ guys.  And no offense, but it feels like there’s no escape.”  She heard the sting in her words, and after how kind Papyrus and Frisk had been it made her Soul ache with shame, shame that she shoved aside.

 

Speaking of Papyrus, Laura shifted her eyes to him to catch him frowning.  She didn’t even know he could do that.  He was regarding her with what looked like a thousand questions on his mind and crushed hope in his eyes.  She looked away and back at Undyne.

 

“Heh, I knew it.  Look punk, no one’s forcing you to stay, if you don’t want to be around then there’s the metaphorical door.”  She gestured down the sidewalk.

 

“UNDYNE, NO.”  Papyrus said drawing both women’s stares.  “LAURA, SANS TOLD ME THAT SOMETHING HAPPENED TO YOU WITH SOME MONSTERS THAT MADE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE AROUND US.”

 

Laura’s grip on the plate tightened, crinkling the foil.  “It’s not that I’m uncomfortable, Papyrus.”   _ Far from it _ , she thought.  

 

“Apologies, Is Afraid A Better Word Choice?  More Accurately, Afraid That We Will Reject And Turn On You?”  While Papyrus may have lowered his voice, it held no less emotion than before.  

 

“WHAT?”  Undyne yelled, taken off guard.  She looked at Papyrus, wondering if he was being serious, and then looked at Laura.  Laura was currently frozen.  Was she really that transparent?  How much more did they already figure out?  This was exactly why she hadn’t wanted to get close to any monsters.  

 

“We Just Want To Be Your Friends, We Don’t Want To Hurt You.”  Papyrus continued casting a stern look at Undyne.

  
  


Laura’s jaw clenched as she swallowed her panic.  “You don’t know me.”

 

“You’re A Good Person.”

 

“You. Don’t. Know. Me.”  

 

“We Know You Enough.  I’ve Seen The Kind Of Person You Are, You’re A Good Person, A Good Human.”  Papyrus pushed.

 

“YOU DON’T KNOW ME! ALRIGHT?! ANYTHING ABOUT ME! You don’t,”  Laura spat out.  “Do you know how dangerous it is to just assume the best of everyone? To think that you want to be friends with them when you don’t know anything about them?  And what happens when you find something you don’t like, huh?  What then?  I’ll tell you what.  You’ll regret it, you’ll wish I didn’t even exist and I wouldn’t even blame you.”  She took a step forward and pointed at him accusingly with the hand holding the flower.  “So why bother?  Tell me.  Tell why this is so important to you!”

 

_ Tell me why you and your friends just won’t leave me alone.  Tell me why you are so nice to me when in the end you will just look at me the same way.  Tell me why. _

 

  Papyrus opened his mouth, sadness crossing his face, and was pushed aside by Undyne who was now standing inches from Laura.

 

“Who hurt you?”  She said, anger making her eyes shine with the promise of payback.

 

“What?”  Laura was thrown off entirely, all her anger dying as quickly as it had arisen.  

 

“Which monster hurt you?”  Undyne pressed.

 

“It doesn’t matter.” Laura said dismissively.  

 

“Like  _ Hell _ it doesn’t.”  But Laura only looked at her cooly.  “BAH! Fine, don’t tell me, but you better listen to me when I tell you that you’re full of shit.”

 

“What?” “WHAT?”  Laura and Papyrus exclaimed in unison.

 

“Yeah, you heard me, punk.” 

 

“Sure, ok, that’s fine.”  Laura snapped, her upper lip threatening to curl.  “Everyone is entitled to think what they want, but that doesn’t mean I need to stay and listen to it.”  

 

“No, but it does mean you need to prove me wrong.”  Undyne smirked and leaned back a little bit.  She looked down her face at Laura.

 

“Excuse me?”  Laura looked up at Papyrus who just shrugged.  

 

“Prove me wrong.  Or are you too afraid of being wrong?”  And there was the challenge.  Papyrus broke out into a grin that he could barely conceal and he looked at Laura with a raised bonebrow and a look of amused excitement. 

 

“I don’t….what?”  Laura was starting to flounder.  She had thought her little tyrade would have put them off and let her go, for good.  This was the exact opposite.  This was not what she had wanted.  

 

“Heh, exactly. You’re coming with us.”  Undyne circled behind Laura and began pushing her down the street, with much more strength than Laura would have given her credit for just from looking at her.

 

Despite her protests, and her attempts at getting free, she soon found herself subduedly being lead right into the one place she hadn’t intended on returning to.

 

The monster bar, Grillby’s.  

 

At first glance it wasn’t that busy yet.  There were a few monsters that seemed to be using the bar as a place to hang out, but none she recognized.  Her escorts lead her to a booth and as soon as she sat down Papyrus sat next to her, trapping her in the booth, while Undyne grinned cheekily from across the table.  

 

The trio sat silently, looking at each other, even after glasses of water had been ordered, by Undyne, and brought to them.  Laura set the plate and the flower to the side and was glowering at Undyne.

  
  


No one broke the silence, not Undyne, not Papyrus, and certainly not Laura.  In fact, the silence grew  so long that Undyne had pulled her phone out, as nonchalant as you please and Papyrus had taken to designing a maze on the back of an already filled sheet of paper, ten times more complicated than the ones found on children’s placemats.  Laura started to drum her fingers on the table, a rough rhythmless pattern that grew more and more impatient, raising in volume until she suddenly stopped.  The irritation radiating off of her was largely ignored by the two monsters.  What wasn’t ignored was when she snapped.

 

“Are you fucking kidding me?!  You drag me all the way over here to  _ prove _ something I couldn’t care less about and then you what?  Just sit here, on your phone, what do you want from me?” she hissed.  Undyne only looked at Laura cooly, silencing Papyrus with a quick look.

 

“What’s your favorite movie, punk?” Undyne’s grin spread slowly across her face.

 

“I...what?” Laura sat back in the booth, surprised.

 

“Movie, what is it?” 

 

For a moment Laura debated whether or not indulging this blatant waste of time was worth it, but if getting out of this conversation and their lives meant answering some questions then that was something she could do.

 

“How To Train Your Dragon.”  she said after a brief moment of thought.

 

“Why?”

 

“The music is amazing.”   _ Because sometimes it’s ok to be different, and the people that care about you will eventually learn to accept you in spite of what makes you different. _

 

“THAT IS ACTUALLY A WONDERFUL FILM!  FRISK QUITE ENJOYS THE DRAGON.”  Papyrus was still adding on to his maze drawing.

 

“You teach music right?”  Undyne brought the conversation back to Laura, who pursed her lips.

 

“Not quite, assistant teacher.”  she said.

 

“Close enough, so you like music.”  It wasn’t a question.

 

“Yea? And?”

 

“That’s cool, y’know, I actually know how to play the piano.”  Undyne sat back as well, mimicking Laura’s posture.  

 

“I...I did not.”  Laura deflated a bit.  It wasn’t like she had ever had the reason to wonder if the prior captain to the Royal Guard was musically inclined.  Hell, it wasn’t like you would know it to look at her.  Terry was usually too busy to help her with her piano tutelage so maybe - Laura lifted her water to her lips.  She wasn’t desperate enough to ask Undyne for help.

 

“Do you play?”  Undyne continued.  

 

“Piano?  I’m working on it, more of a wind kind of person.”  Laura said with a shrug, the dryness in her voice lifting a little, much to her chagrin.

 

“Oh?”  Undyne’s grin grew further, and she looked like she was an  evolved descendant of a piranha, but it wasn’t one of malice, only pure mischievousness and Laura swallowed reflexively.  

 

Undyne continued to grill Laura on anything from the kind of music she liked to play, to the kinds of music she listened to, dragging her into a full hour long conversation on movie soundtracks.  By the time Undyne managed to change the topic yet again, Laura was in full musical passion mode, her arms moved as animatedly as her voice did and for the moment it almost seemed like she had forgotten exactly why she had been upset.  Papyrus, in a way that was so out of character for him, had remained mostly silent through the entire conversation, a soft smile on his on bony face.

 

“So where are you from then?”  Undyne said, breaking Laura’s current focus on the films scored by Danny Elfman. 

 

Laura opened her mouth, “over in - “ she shut down, the light dying in her eyes almost instantly.  “A bit west of here,” she said.

 

Undyne snorted.  “Don’t get all serious, punk, it was just a question.  You have a lot of passion and a lot you seem to want to share for someone who doesn’t want anything to do with us,” she pointed out, folding her arms on the table.  Laura scoffed.

 

“Don’t think that just because we had a decent conversation I suddenly want to be your best friend and tell you my life story.”  Yet, despite her attitude, Laura slipped into the same posture as Undyne just had, subconsciously doing the same thing her scaled challenger had done to her earlier.  She had to admit, Undyne knew what she was talking about, and being given the chance to discuss music with anyone other than Terry had been something she hadn’t known she would enjoy.  

 

“Oh that’s fine.  Just friend will do.”  Undyne said, smugly.  Papyrus laughed.

 

“Why do you two think I’m just going to be friends with you?  Why are you so hell bent on this?”  Laura asked, gesturing to the two of them and throwing her hands up.

 

“Because, You Aren’t The Only One With Something To Prove.”  Papyrus said, drawing a stunned silence from Laura.

 

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, bonehead.”  Undyne agreed.

 

“I…”  Laura started, and then sighed.  She rubbed her temples, breathing out an exasperated huff of air.  “You aren’t going to let me be, are you?  Even if I ask you to leave me alone.”  Papyrus looked at Undyne, imploring her to do something, but the fish woman just shrugged.

 

“Is That What You Want?  I Guess If You Truly Want Nothing To Do With Us Then We Will Leave You Alone.”  Papyrus said.  It wasn’t difficult to pick up on the defeated tone in his voice.

 

“No.”  Laura said.  

 

_ Wait what? _  She closed her mouth abruptly.  That hadn’t been her plan at all.  The change in her companions’ faces was instantaneous.

 

 “Oh no, no no no.  Now just hold it right there.”  She said pointing at the both of them before they could explode with what was sure to be something loud in their presumed victory.  “I didn’t say we were friends, but I’m not an asshole, I know how to be  _ friend _ ly.  It would be absolutely piggish of me to just tell you guys to avoid me at all costs, and I have a feeling that even if I did ask you that, I’d still see you lurking around.  And I do mean lurking.” 

 

_ Because that is exactly what Carter would do, and if I ever had the three of you in a room I don’t know if I’d laugh or leap out the nearest window. _

 

“NYEHEHEH!  PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE, UNDYNE!”  Papyrus cheered, volume dial spun right back to eleven like the flip of a switch.  It made Laura raise an eyebrow, amusedly fighting the smile that was creeping into the corners of her mouth.

 

“I dunno, Paps, I don’t feel satisfied with this outcome, but I guess I can accept it.”  Undyne grumbled.  

 

“Can I go home now?  The sun’s already set.”  Laura looked out the windows of the bar, the bar that was now quickly filling up with the night crowd.  

 

“OH YES, APOLOGIES.”  Papyrus smiled sheepishly and slid out of the booth so Laura could escape.  When she moved to leave, both guardsmen were right behind her.  

 

“Umm...goodbye?” she said, once they continued to walk with her towards the campus.  

 

“WELL LIKE YOU SAID, IT IS DARK OUTSIDE.”

 

“And I don’t want any accident you might get into on my head cause we kept you.”  

 

“EXACTLY!”

 

Laura groaned.  “Yea, ok fine.”  

 

During the walk back to her car she tried her damnedest to remain silent, she really did.  Yet, by the time she reached the parking lot where only her car remained she was trying not to laugh instead.  

 

“If you want help with the piano, I wouldn’t mind giving you some lessons.”  Undyne said suddenly, snapping Laura right back into the moment.

 

“UNDYNE IS A WONDERFUL TEACHER, SHE’S VERY BIG ON PASSION IN YOUR WORK!”  Papyrus spoke as if from experience.  Laura very nearly asked what Undyne had taught to Papyrus, but decided against it and instead put her things, her plate, and the flower into her car so she could fish out her phone.  There was a text from Carter previewed on her lock screen.

 

So she took a deep breath and steeled her spine before turning to look Undyne in the eye.  “You know what, fuck it, sure.  If you’re free tomorrow we can use the piano in the classroom,” she pointed out the music building.  

 

“Deal!”  Undyne promised.


	6. Without Music Life Would Be Flat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You ever just write a character, and you have no intention of loving them, but you end up not having a choice?
> 
> Side note, thank you Paige for beta reading for me!

 

Throughout the day Laura gew antsier, and it didn’t go unnoticed.  Bile rose in her throat the more she thought about what was coming, wondering why she even agreed to this lesson, why she hadn’t just told Undyne no and asked the monsters to keep their distance.  It got so bad that Terry pulled her aside and asked her what was wrong.  

 

She hadn’t realized that she had been obvious in her growing discomfort, it was usually something she was good at managing.  After all, she learned a long time ago the importance of not wearing one’s Soul on their sleeve.

 

“What’s wrong, Laura.”  Terry asked in between classes.  He was sitting at his desk, feet propped up and a chewed up straw in his mouth.

 

“Nothi-”

 

“Don’t lie to me, come on.” he cut her off.  Laura sighed and turned her attention to the stack of music she was sorting before just setting them down and knocking Terry’s feet off of the desk.

 

“I’m meeting a new-”

 

“Friend?”

 

“Acquaintance.” she said, firmly. “A new acquaintance, for a piano lesson today after school.”  Laura’s eyes darted to the clock and she pursed her lips.

 

“Well that’s wonderful!  How is that anything to be anxious about?”  Terry leaned forward and gestured into the air with his straw.  The same straw he had been conducting with for half the day, because, as he told Laura, he could.  Laura didn’t answer and continued with her task.

 

“Laura.”  She ignored him.  “Laura.” She set aside the wind stack and moved to organizing the sheets for the low brasas.  “OooOOoo LaaauuuuRRrAaa~”  

 

“Fine!”  She snapped, slapping the pages to the desk and glaring at Terry, who had sat back smugly.  “I’m just not used to being around this person is all, they are very intense, and very stubborn.” she said.  Terry started to laugh.  It started as a huffed chuckle, and then quickly turned into wheezing guffaw.  “What’s so funny?”

 

“Laura, dear, have you  _ seen _ yourself?”  He wiped at his eyes, having worked himself into a fit.

 

“What is that supposed to mean?” she crossed her arms and looked down at him.

 

“If there is someone even more intense, even more stubborn than you out there, I want to meet them.  No,” Terry pointed at her with the straw.  “I want to see how you handle them, because I think it could do you good.”  

 

“Look, I don’t think-”

 

“Perfect!  Don’t think!  You need to stop overthinking everything and try to live in the moment once in a while.  Make mistakes, stop worrying about upsetting people.  Laura, you walk on eggshells like no one ever told you there was solid ground underneath.”  Laura stared at Terry, her words catching.   

 

“So poetic, are you sure you didn’t major in Lit, T?” she asked, deflecting his words.

 

“Thought about it.” he said with a laugh.  “Use the classroom for your lesson then, but I hope you take what I said seriously.”  Laura smirked a little and bent back over the desk to finish laying out the music.  

 

“Yea, I already was.”

 

“Presumptuous, aren’t we?”  Terry flicked his straw at her and she grimaced, swatting it away and getting saliva on her hand.  He laughed.  “That’s fine."

 

“Terry, you are disgusting.” Laura made a face at him and stepped out to wash her hands.  When she returned, Terry hadn’t made a move to pick up his straw.

 

“Are you going to make Sans pick up your nasty ass straw?” she asked dryly.

 

“Gotta give him something to do.”  Terry shrugged, causing Laura to roll her eyes.

  
  


The last class of the day had already filed out by the time Terry wished Laura luck with her new “not” friend.  By this point Laura was hoping Undyne had forgotten the lesson altogether, and she nearly convinced herself that she was in clear when the door swung open and banged against the stopper.

 

“Hey punk!  You ready?” Undyne wasted no time in making her way to the piano.  She carried herself with an air of aloofness that betrayed nothing of how she really felt about this lesson.  Laura didn’t even deign to answer her, instead she finished cleaning up and putting the music stands away before walking straight backed over to the piano.  There, she just stood there and watched as Undyne settled onto the bench and ran her fingers gently along the keys. 

 

The way she was looking at the instrument was a far cry from the way she often acted, it was startling.  Then, she pressed a key, then another, listening for any discrepancies in the notes and hearing none she nodded approvingly.  

 

“You aren’t going to learn anything just standing there.  Sit.”  It wasn’t a request.  

 

Laura pulled a face and sat gingerly next to the fish woman.

 

“Well.  Show me what you got.”  Undyne said.  She gestured to the keyboard and crossed her arms.

 

“I...ok.”  Laura took a deep breath and focussed on the black and white keys before her.  She ignored the sheet music in front of her and kept her head bowed to watch her fingers as she slowly starting drawing the song from the strings.  The more she got acquainted with the flow of the music and the keys the faster she was able to go. Here and there she hit a wrong note, and her volume was relatively consistent, but considering the piece she was playing she felt proud of herself.

 

She stumbled at the part she hadn’t memorized yet.  Then she stopped with a frustrated huff.

 

“Not bad.”  Undyne said.  Laura looked at her quizzically, there wasn’t a hint of condescension in her voice or on her face.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yea, you have a great sense of tempo, and you’ve gotten the keys pretty well mapped out.”  Undyne ran through a portion of the song herself.  In Laura’s opinion it was a much better rendition, but Undyne only grinned at her.  “I noticed you looked down the whole time.”  

 

Laura left off chewing on the inside of her cheek.  “Yea, well, I can’t remember if I told you this, but it’s easier for me to memorize the two lines than reading it.” she shrugged. Undyne hummed in response and looked through the music.

 

“Ok, well, how about this, let’s start with reading while you play.”  

 

When Papyrus had mentioned that Undyne was big about passion, he wasn’t lying, but Laura felt like perhaps he was seeing it wrong.  When Undyne was at the piano, she was calm, at peace even.  There was a softness to her eyes, and a smile that never quite the corners of her mouth.  Yet there was enthusiasm, a bottomless well of enthusiasm from which she drew encouragement, and patience, and a remarkable ability to point out the pieces that Laura couldn’t quite wrap her mind around.  

 

She was adamant that Laura understand that she didn’t need to learn to read the music if she didn’t want to, that memorization was just as valid a way to play the piano.  Sheet music was more of a guideline, Undyne told her, and Laura had laughed because that was something she agreed on.

 

Laura played through the song up to where she knew it, slowly trying to read along and while she did, Undyne pointed out a few tricks she’d learned to keep track of the music on the page.  It was slow going, but, in a way, the more Laura relaxed the easier it became. 

 

After what felt like an hour, Undyne convinced her to start the song again, and this time just play, play until she lost the music and then keep playing. Laura had no idea what she was talking about, and she said as much, but Undyne just looked at her.  

 

With a roll of her eyes, Laura started playing, she kept the tempo up and eventually lost her place on the page.  So she kept playing, from the memory of the music she played, a little more sure than she had been when the lesson had started, and when she got to the part that she hadn’t learned yet, Undyne took over.  

 

“Don’t stop!” she said, reaching up to turn the page.  Laura balked, but flicked her eyes to the music and caught the starting notes of the measure.  So she improvised.  That was something she was usually go at on her more familiar instruments, but when she started changing the music, Undyne kept pace with her.  The monster played the chords and harmonies, allowing Laura to run through whatever music came from her.  

 

After a few errant notes and a phrase repeated too many times, Laura stopped playing and looked at Undyne, who was beaming at her.  Laura started to laugh.  That had been exhilarating, and beyond that, it had been the most fun she’d had at the piano.

 

“See, that was fantastic!  Keep up practicing like that and you’ll get the hang of it in no time.”  Undyne slapped Laura on the back, causing her hands to slam a discordant note into the air. “Just remember, you have to have fun too.  Something like this, you gotta learn to enjoy it, if you do, it won’t matter if you can read the music or not.”  

 

“You have a point.”  Laura murmured, rolling her shoulders.

 

“I know.”  

  
  


Undyne left shortly after that, not once mentioning that the two of them should hang out, and for that Laura was grateful.  True, at this point she was stubbornly standing by her “we aren’t going to be friends” attitude, but the time she had spent with Undyne had been refreshing.  Like for a moment, something that had been missing had been returned.  It was honestly something Laura tried very hard not to think about.  

 

A few days later, Undyne returned unannounced for a second lesson.  Laura hadn’t bothered to get her number last time so her arrival was a bit of a surprise, and a welcome one.  Laura had been having trouble with a portion of a new song, her fingers just refused to follow the music as she wanted it to, at least at the tempo the song called for.

 

During their lesson, Laura spoke more.  Her questions and commentary not quite as lesson oriented as they had been last time.  Laughter came a little easier, even when she messed up while playing.  

 

Outside the classroom, Sans leaned against the door.  He didn’t know Undyne could play the piano, and the human wasn’t bad either.  To all who saw him it looked like he had fallen asleep standing there.  He hadn’t.

  
  


The third time Undyne showed up for the lesson Laura had been in a foul mood for most of the day, and was already playing.  There was no sheet music in sight, just a bunch of harsh musical phrases that went from one to the other, never really forming a clear melody.  Undyne sat next to her.  She didn’t say anything and Laura didn’t look at her.  After a few minutes of Laura playing out the same part again and again, Undyne started playing with her.  She pulled Laura’s meandering notes along until they started to make sense together.  The two women sat in silence and played until Laura stopped and rubbed at her face.  

 

“Thank you.” she said.  

 

“Yea.”  Undyne shrugged, “I get it, sometimes you need an outlet, and punching someone, or something, isn’t always the best way to go about it.”  

 

“You sound like you have experience in that.”  Laura said, almost teasingly.

 

“Do you know me?”  Undyne asked incredulously, “of course I do.”

 

Laura stood up, stretching until her back popped and then put her hands on her hips, looking down at Undyne. “I don’t know you.” she said simply, and then walked into a nearby closet, only to return with a small instrument case.

 

“Huh, fair point.”  Undyne mused.  “What’s that for?” she pointed at the case as Laura set it atop the piano and flipped the latches.

 

“This is my flute, I am really not in the mood to fight some new songs today, play with me instead.”  In moments the instrument was assembled and she was warming it with her breath, looking at Undyne and waiting to see if she would go along with her request.

 

“Nah.”

 

“Wait, really?”  Laura looked a little crestfallen, try as she might to look as unperturbed as possible.  

 

“Play against me.  Play something on that twig of yours and I’ll play it back and throw you something.  Let’s make a game of it.”  Undyne cracked her knuckles, turning back to the piano with a smirk and sliding to the center of the bench.  With a grin and the feeling of excitement building inside of her, Laura did as she said.  

 

Outside the room, as the music inside quickly grew more and more complicated, fast, and rambunctious, Sans was leaning against the door again.  Next to him on the floor sat Alphys.  Both monsters were sitting with their eyes closed, smiles on their faces.  They were gone before the women inside had any idea they were there.

  
  


This pattern of “lessons” continued for a few weeks.  Sometimes Laura would ask Undyne for help, others she would eagerly show her what she had accomplished on her own, but most of the time they just played together.  Either both at the piano, or with Laura on one or another instrument.  

 

Laura had been practicing the piano on her own before classes, trying to get in a bit more practice before Undyne showed up later that day.  They still hadn’t exchanged numbers, but after the recent weeks they had a pretty set schedule, and Laura would be lying if she said she didn’t look forward to playing with her.  

 

So of course she was lying. 

 

Right through her teeth when Terry walked in and commented on her improvements since the last time she had let him hear her play.

 

“I wasn’t  _ letting _ you hear anything, you were just eavesdropping.”  Laura snarked, closing the cover for the keys.

 

“Uhhh, my classroom.”  Terry pointed out.

 

“School’s classroom.” 

 

“Yea, and who gave you a key to it?” he asked.

 

“The dean.”  

 

“I..uh...shit.  Touche.” he chuckled, “well young apprentice-”

 

“Assistant.”  Laura cut in, looking at him passively.

 

“Would you let me have a little fun?!  Killjoy much?”  He threw his hands up in exasperation and Laura started to laugh, her firm expression cracking, finally.  “So, are you going to tell me who’s been helping you?”

 

“A woman named Undyne.” she said, swiping the extra coffee he’d brought for her.  A strangled noise drew her attention and she saw Terry staring at her as if he hadn’t even heard her right.

 

“Undyne??” he asked.

 

“Yes.  Undyne.  Yes.   _ That _ Undyne.” she pinched the bridge of her nose, waiting for what was sure to be a slew of questions.

 

Yet, none came.

 

Terry made a noise in the back of his throat and then went about his business.  For the rest of the day, he didn’t make a single mention of who had been helping Laura with the piano, didn’t ask how she knew the ex-head of the royal guard, or anything.  

 

If it wasn’t so out of character for him, Laura wouldn’t have cared, so of course she was beyond concerned for what he had planned.

 

After class he left as usual, wishing her luck with her lesson and leaving her to it.  The lesson itself, went as usual, more playing together than actual teaching.  It was after the lesson that she discovered what Terry had been planning.

 

Laura made it all of three feet from the music building when Terry sent her a text telling her she needed him at Grillby’s.  

 

Laura swore at whatever being was looking down at her with a vehemence that was more watered down than usual.  She sent back a text that read “yea, ok, fine”, and drove over to the bar.  It was early enough not to be crowded yet, but there were a few people pregaming for the night to come.  At the bar sat Terry, and beside him was Sans, who Laura hadn’t seen in nearly two months.

 

“Oh good, you’re here.”  Terry said vacating his seat and motioning for her to take it.  “I need to hit the toilet, be right back,” and without giving Laura the chance to retort he walked off.

 

Sighing, she took the seat and after glancing at the selection of alcohol behind the bar, decided she might as well settle in and prepare for whatever was to come. She ordered a rum and coke, and drained half of it in one go.  She didn’t look at Sans.  Not at first.  Not until she heard him whistling.

 

Whistling the same tune she had improved with Undyne just the other day.  

 

She spun in her seat to look the smug skeleton in the eye and raised a finger to point with as she called him out, but instead of calling him out on spying on her, she called him out on something else.

 

“You’re the one who sent Papyrus.” she didn’t say when this was, or give any context clues whatsoever, but the shit eating grin Sans gave her made it clear that she didn’t have to.

 

“yea, well, turned out alright now didn’t it?” His smile only grew with her hesitation.  

 

“That is beside the point!  Who gave you the right to meddle in my shit?!” She was furious, everything she’d worked so hard to build up for herself was falling apart, and she was  _ letting it _ .  It was so much easier to blame Sans than to admit she was wrong.

 

“hey, watch who you’re pointin at, alright kid?  look all i told my brother was that you weren’t comfortable around monsters cause of some shit that happened in the past. what happened after that wasn’t my concern.”  His smile had shifted a little, it wasn’t quite as friendly as it had been, more annoyed than anything else. “beside’s, paps’ been doing pretty good at not buggin ya, so maybe give him a bit ‘a slack if you see him again, yea?.”  Laura had to admit that Sans had a point, she hadn’t seen hide nor scarf of the tall skeleton since that day.  

 

Laura downed the rest of her drink, paid her tab, and left just as Terry was returning from the bathroom. 

 

She didn’t return to her car, not right away, instead she headed to the downtown plaza and stretched out on the mostly vacant field beside the empty stage.  A few other people were milling about, a couple monsters were tossing a frisbee back and forth at the far end.  

 

Was it fair of her to treat them as she had been?  No.  Even when she knew she enjoyed spending time with Undyne, even when she knew she had enjoyed spending time with Frisk and Papyrus too, she kept using her anger and stubbornness to hide it and push them away.

 

What was the worst that could happen if she stopped?

 

She could lose everything, she knew that.  Yet, she also knew that she was paranoid.

 

Laura pulled her phone out.

 

It rang for a while, and when Carter answered he sounded groggy.

 

“Were you napping?”  Laura asked, already smiling.

 

“Yea, what of it?”  Carter snipped.

 

“Nothin, you’re up now though right?”

 

“Yes, mother, I’m up,” he laughed, and for a moment everything felt a little better.  “What’s wrong El?” but of course he could hear right through her.

 

After a moment of watching the sky overhead she spoke, telling him about the monsters, her lessons, how she’d been acting, and why. Oh she layed on the why part pretty thick, running back and forth between excuses and trying to rationalize her actions, until Carter cut her off.

 

“El, stop.”

 

“But, wait, Carter-”

 

“Shut. Up.”  And she did.  “Why, why are you taking the responsibility of our entire kind onto your shoulders?  You aren’t the only demi-monster in hiding Laura, not by a longshot, any single one of them could out us at any time, and if it happens to be you do you honestly think they’re going to wipe us out?”

 

“I don’t-”   
  
“No, you don’t know that.  For the love of the stars Laura you need to stop.  Ever since you left home you’ve sounded so...sad, so isolated, and listening to you talk about Undyne, and the others, as much as you bitched, you sounded happy.  Why can’t you just see that?  They like you, for some reason-”

 

“Hey!” 

 

“Heh, for some reason they want to be your friends, so just give them a chance.  If for some reason they find out about what you are, and they don’t like it, then I’ll drive up there and kick their asses.”  Laura could all but see Carter punching the air when he said that.

 

“Carter, it isn’t that easy.” she said quietly.

 

“It is precisely that easy, you’re the one making it hard!  Look, I know what you went through was absolute shit, but not everyone is like that, and you know this. Just, do me a favor,” he sighed.  

 

“What?”  Laura asked apprehensively.

 

“Go find this Papyrus guy, make friends, stop hiding.  Please?”

 

Laura laid on the ground in silence, then, “alright.”

 

“YES!”  Carter cheered, forcing her to pull the phone away from her ear.

 

“Hey Carter?” she asked when he had calmed down.

 

“Yea?”

 

“When did you become so wise?” she was chuckling a little.

 

“Ohhh, it must be my olllld aage~” Carter mimicked the voice of an old man, poorly.

 

“Shut up, you’re my age!” she pointed out and he just laughed.

 

“Hey Carter?”

 

“Yea?”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Hey, you and me till the end, right?” he said.

 

And for the first time in years, she responded.  “You and me until the end.”


	7. Friendship is as Contagious as a Terminal Disease

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yet, once Laura saw the state of Papyrus’ garden she had to bite her cheek. It hadn’t grown at all, and there were so many things wrong.
> 
>  
> 
> “Papyrus?” she choked out.
> 
>  
> 
> “I KNOW IT HASN’T GROWN MUCH, BUT I AM SURE IT WILL IN NO TIME. I READ SOMEWHERE THAT TALKING TO YOUR PLANTS HELPS THEM GROW SO I HAVE BEEN TALKING TO THEM EVERY DAY.” When Laura looked at him she noticed he did look proud of his little garden. It was sweet. One more glance at the sad state of the barren ground though had her rolling up the sleeves of her flannel over shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry for the delay, I've had this written for a bit I've just had a hard time getting myself motivated lately, but don't worry! I'm not going to let Laura's story go unfinished, just bear with me.

**12 Years Before the Barrier Was Broken**

  
  


“Where would you want to go first?”  Carter asked, swinging his tree branch around like a makeshift sword.

 

“Oh...I don’t know.  I think I want to see the ocean.” Laura looked up at the sky and adjusted her backpack on her shoulder.  “All the books say it's beautiful and it reflects the sun in such pretty colors.”  

 

Carter nodded his head.  “Yea, plus its more open right?  Not as stuck like it is here, we don’t even have a lake or anything.”   
  
“We have the river.” she pointed out.

 

“S’not the same and you know it.”  The young boy sighed.  “I think I want to see the cities first.  All those people, the lights.”

 

“Wouldn’t it be noisy?” Laura skipped a few steps to catch up to her friend.

 

“Yea, but gotta do it at least once.” he shrugged.  Laura just hummed non-commitaly, and then hopped a step in excitement.

 

“You know here  _ I _ want to go?!”  She started and Carter looked at her in growing excitement.  “A THEME PARK!” they shouted together, laughing.

 

“What are you two young ones up to?”  A voice broke through their excitement drawing their attention to the woman checking her mail.

 

“Oh hey, Ms. Kellan, we were just talking about where we wanted to go first when we grow up.”  Carter said jovially.

 

“Oh?” The older monster asked, looking down at them with poorly concealed contempt.  “Have you two already decided on taking the pills then?”

 

“Uhh….” Laura started, she knew where this conversation was going.

 

“We decided we aren’t going to take them, we’re going out as we are.” Carter said proudly.  Ms. Kellan sneered.

 

“You know you can’t do that.”

 

“And why not!  There’s no law against it.”  Carter retorted.

 

“You would really risk the lives of your people, of all of us monsters on your frivolous dreams, young man?  How selfish.”  Ms. Kellan stood straighter and looked down her muzzle at them.

Laura watched with a sinking feeling as Carter puffs himself up and somehow manages to look even more stubborn than the monster in front of them.  “There is always a chance for acceptance, it isn’t our fault you lot are too afraid to look for it.”  Laura put her hand on his arm and opened her mouth, whether in support of him or to get him to back off she didn’t know, and she didn’t get the chance to find out because Ms. Kellan immediately fired back at him.

 

“You better get those ideas out of your head now, boy.  Dream your dreams, but you are going to end up stuck here in this town with the rest of us unless you get over yourself and take the pills.  At that point you might as well just reject your monster heritage right now, you’ll never leave otherwise.” Her upper lip curled as she spoke and Laura felt her hackles raise. _Danger_ , her body was telling her, and when she looked at Carter she could see the fur on the back of his neck standing on end.  He could sense it too.  

 

“Nobody asked you to get into our business, not even with a nose as large as yours.  So if you please, could you huff and puff somewhere else?”  Laura said cooly to Ms. Kellan, who’s jaw snapped shut in surprise.  Laura who had never been anything but cordial, even polite.  “Thank you.”  And with that Laura pulled Carter away and down the street towards her house.

  
  
  


**Present Day**

  
  


Her search for Papyrus was less than fruitful.  Days Laura spent looking for him, the places she’d met him before, the places she figured a person like him would frequent, and nada.  Carter was encouraging, but even as Laura said to him one day on the phone, “How hard is it to find a nearly seven foot tall skeleton in a city like this?! Especially one as loud as he is!?” Carter had had no response besides howling laughter and Laura had given up on that particular phone call and hung up.

 

To top off this search, she hadn’t even been able to ask Sans for help, even if he had been willing to give it to her.  He too had been suspiciously missing since her last encounter with him at the bar.  

 

_ Why is it now I can’t find a damn one of them?! _  She thought to herself on more than one occasion.  Not that it hadn’t occurred to her to ask Undyne for help, but this was something Laura wanted to do on her own.  One step at a time, one monster at a time, and the last time she’d had to face both Papyrus and Undyne at the same time she’d somehow ended up in this mess to begin with.  

 

But after nearly a week of playing “Where’s Papyrus” she bit the metaphorical bullet and decided to ask Undyne where she might actually find him.  

  
  


At their next lesson Laura asks Undyne if she can ask her for help with something.

 

“Of course, punk, what is it?  Is someone giving you trouble?”  Undyne looked ready to kick some ass and Laura started to laugh.

 

“Why do you always assume someone is heckling me?  Everytime I look like I’ve had a crap day you’re first thought is that it’s  _ because  _ of someone.”  Laura cocked her head to the side.

 

“Just gotta make sure, you don’t exactly look like you’d take someone in a fight if it did come to that.”  Undyne grinned toothily.

 

“Oh har har, what makes you think I couldn’t?”

 

“I said wouldn’t, not couldn’t.”   _ Oh...touche. _  Laura laughed again.  “So what’s up.”  Undyne asked, leaning against the piano.

 

“My friend, Carter said I needed to start making friends-”   
  
“We are friends.”   
  
“I know, but - “ Laura stopped and Undyne’s grin grew even wider.  Laura fought the exasperated smile pulling at her lips.  “ _ BUT _ I’ve been looking for Papyrus, I wasn’t exactly the most pleasant last time and I should at least apologize.”  She didn’t mention what Sans had said, or even what exactly Carter had said, but apparently she had said enough because Undyne was deep in thought.  Laura’s eyebrow raised as the silence grew and then flinched.

 

“ALRIGHT!  Give me a moment,” and with that Undyne marched out of the music room. 

 

Laura sat in stunned silence for a solid minute before she rolled her eyes and shrugged to the empty air.  

  
  


When Undyne returned, Laura was working on a new piece, and only stopped when from outside the room she heard:  “WOULD YOU PUT ME DOWN?!  I AM MORE THAN CAPABLE OF WALKING MYSELF TO WHEREVER IT IS YOU WANT ME TO GO.”  Laura turned just in time to see Undyne kick the door open and stride into the room with Papyrus slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.  

 

“Oh my god.”  Laura whispers before breaking down into laughter, covering her face with her hand.  What Carter wouldn’t give to see this.  Undyne set the less than pleased skeleton on his feet and then points from Laura to Papyrus.

 

“Now make friends.” she said.  

 

“OH! HUMAN LAURA!”  Laura’s jaw clenched at his words, but she managed a smile nonetheless. “IS IT TRUE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ME?  I MEAN OF COURSE YOU HAVE, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AFTER ALL...BUT, HAVE YOU?”  Papyrus asked eagerly.

 

“Oh, um...yea.”  Laura started, “Look, I just wanted to apologize for blowing you off and being….less than welcoming...uhm…”  She looked at Undyne who had crossed her arms and narrowed her eye. 

 

“OH, DON’T WORRY.  I WASN’T UPSET, I UNDERSTAND I HAD OVERSTEPPED MYSELF.” Papyrus tried to say, sitting completely straight on his seat.

 

“No, that’s not what - ugh come on everyone out, shoo.”  Well, in a way she did what Carter had wanted.  Right?  Undyne and Papyrus vacated the room quickly and she took a moment to lock up the storage rooms and then the room itself.  When she left the building she saw no sign of Undyne, but Papyrus, he was there looking like he had just been talking to someone.  Someone that left mid sentence and had Papyrus throwing up his hands in exasperation.  Laura immediately felt her eyes narrow.

 

“OH, THERE YOU ARE LAURA!”  He exclaimed, striding over to her.  At this proximity she had to crane her neck to look up at him and she huffed, pushing him back a few steps. 

 

“Too tall to stand that close, Papyrus.”  She smiled though.

 

“SORRY, I GUESS I AM RATHER TALL.  I BARELY REMEMBER BEING SMALLER THAN MY BROTHER AND I WAS ONLY A BABY BONES AT THE TIME.” he said with a shrug.   
  
“Somehow the idea of you ever being small is almost impossible.”  Laura started walking towards her car and didn’t even blink when Papyrus kept in step with her. 

 

“OH BUT IT’S TRUE. I GREW RATHER QUICKLY, AND I ALWAYS DRANK MY MILK.” he said proudly.

 

Laura coughed a laugh.  “Are you saying your brother didn’t?”

 

“WELL….”  

 

“Oh that’s a yes.”  

 

“NYEHEHEHE.  SO IT MIGHT BE.”  Papyrus grinned down at her and she couldn’t help the answering grin that spread across her face at the shared joke.  

 

They walked in silence until she reached her car and she started stowing her stuff inside.  Papyrus asked her if she was going to be going home now and Laura’s response, as it was to anyone who usually asked was “yea, probably.”  She was sitting in the driver’s seat, looking for her sunglasses when an laminated rectangle fell from her blinder.  Papyrus picked it up to return it to her and stopped.  It was the flower he’d given her that afternoon, she’d pressed it and sealed it.

 

“OH!”  Laura jumped at the suddenness of his voice, giving up on the search.  “I HAD WANTED TO ASK YOU IF YOU WANTED TO COME SEE MY GARDEN? IT’S COME ALONG VERY NICELY SINCE WE LAST MET.”

 

“I’m not su-”

 

“PLEASE?”  He handed her back her pressed flower and her face softened.  He could almost see the gears working in her mind.

 

“You know what?  Yea, sure.  Hop in, I’ll drive.”  She took the flower.

 

Getting Papyrus in her car was a whole other task, and while his enthusiasm knew no bounds she still watched as he almost comically sat there adjusting the seat so he could at least sit in a position that was relatively comfortable.

 

“When I got this car I hadn’t figured I’d have someone like you in here, tall I mean.  Pull that lever there on the side to lower the - yea that’s the one. Ok now -” she laughed.

 

“DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME.  I DO BELIEVE I’VE FIGURED IT OUT.” 

 

“Looks like it.”  It really did, well at least he wasn’t bent at the waist now.  Laura started up the car.  “Ok, where to Papyrus.”  She pulled out from the spot and waited at the stop sign.  The skeleton was silent for a moment while he mapped out the route in his head.  

 

“LEFT HERE, PLEASE.”  

  
  


Getting to his house was a decent drive, more than her usual drives when the idiocy on the road usually put her into fit of swearing akin to a sailor.  He didn’t live too far from the downtown area which made things easier, and his pleasant attitude was nothing short of contagious. Something Laura would have realized earlier if she hadn’t been so stubbornly set on pushing him away from her.

  
  


The house was simple, a little smaller than the one Toriel and Frisk lived in, but it was impeccably well kept.  Two stories, a shed, and a decent sized front and back yard.  All things Laura noted as she was led to the garden in the backyard.

 

Yet, once Laura saw the state of Papyrus’ garden she had to bite her cheek.  It hadn’t grown at all, and there were so many things wrong. 

 

“Papyrus?” she choked out.

 

“I KNOW IT HASN’T GROWN MUCH, BUT I AM SURE IT WILL IN NO TIME.  I READ SOMEWHERE THAT TALKING TO YOUR PLANTS HELPS THEM GROW SO I HAVE BEEN TALKING TO THEM EVERY DAY.”  When Laura looked at him she noticed he did look proud of his little garden.  It was sweet.  One more glance at the sad state of the barren ground though had her rolling up the sleeves of her flannel over shirt.  

 

“Do you mind if I show you a few things that might help them grow a little faster?” she asked.  Yes, she knew what she had just asked, and yes, she knew she was about to literally dig herself a hole she might not be able to back away from.

 

“DO YOU HAVE A GARDEN TOO?”  Papyrus looked impress.

 

“Oh, uh, no, but my friend’s parents did when I was little.” she pulled her hair back and twisted it into a knot at the top of her head.

 

“WELL THEN OF COURSE! I WOULD LOVE YOUR ASSISTANCE.”  Papyrus smiled wider and then jogged off to find his gardening gloves.  “I MUST APOLOGIZE, I ONLY HAVE THE ONE PAIR AND IT IS VERY HARD TO GET DIRT AND GRIT OUT OF MY JOINTS.” he called from within the house.

 

“It’s fine, dude, I don’t mind getting my hands dirty.”  She called out, settling onto her knees before one choked planter box by the fence.  Too much mulch, too much water, and the soil seemed to be lacking the natural nutrients these kinds of plants preferred, almost as if this yard had indeed been dry and barren even before this.  When Papyrus came back around she had already cleared away a good portion of the mulch by hand, leaving it in piles behind her.  She was very likely going to have some splinters after this.

 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” He asked, settling onto his knees beside her, watching her make room for the plants.  

 

“Giving them room to breathe, and grow.”  She explained the basics of what she remembered from Carter’s parents’ garden and told him about the different kinds of plants and the kinds of soil they grew best in, and Papyrus drank it all in.  After a moment when she had cleared enough room for the plans he asked her if he needed to go buy some new soil to help them start growing.  She thought about it, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand and then answered in the affirmative.  She was surprised the girl at the flower shop hadn’t told him this stuff but then he admitted he had really only asked which plants grow best in which seasons.  That caused Laura to laugh. 

 

While Papyrus had run off to get what he needed she continued clearing the areas for the plants.

 

From within the house Sans looked down from his window curiously, face neutral.  When Papyrus returned, arms laden with bags of soil and other miscellaneous supplies he started to smile and turned away, retreating further into the house.  Papyrus had gotten a second pair of gloves for Laura and she put them on gratefully.

 

Until the sun set she worked with him, mixing the soil for the seedlings and showing him out to care for them properly.  

 

“I can’t guarantee this will work, but you get plenty of sun, and shade, which is good, so something should happen.  You know…”  she started, looking out over the rest of the yard.

 

“YES?”

  
  
“You could plant some flowers.  Some of the ones that attract hummingbirds and bees.  They can help pollinate and keep the garden healthy.”  She mused.  

 

“OH!  THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL!  AND VERY BRIGHT I IMAGINE.  DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONES WOULD BE BEST?” he asked.  Laura sat back on her heels and thought about it, thinking about the once she had helped plant decades ago.  She tugged her gloves off and pulled her phone out, pulling up a quick search and reading off the list to Papyrus.

 

In the dim twilight that had settled on the garden Papyrus’ eyes and Laura’s phone shone the brightest, the former sitting beside her on the ground and pointing out different flowers and and asked questions.  It was fully dark when she realized she still needed to get home and figure out dinner.  Of course Papyrus offered to make her some spaghetti, but she politely declined, saying she had plenty of food she needed to work through in her fridge.  

 

He didn’t let her leave without his number though and as soon as she got home she saw he had sent her a text, thanking her for her help.

  
  


The next week, on a day when she and Undyne were not having one of their “lessons” Laura decided to ask Papyrus how his garden was faring.  He had been very talkative, running par with Carter who was beyond ecstatic for this turn of events in her life, and responded almost instantly, inviting her to come see for herself.

 

She hadn’t planned on going over, not really, but she was curious.  Not to mention working in the garden had been soothing.  So before long she was pulling into the driveway and opening the gate to the backyard.  Nothing had really started growing from first glance, but Papyrus wasted no time int pulling her quickly to the bed of herbs where some of the smallest sprouts she had ever seen were growing.  She congratulated him heartily, his beaming exuberance over this victory was contagious.  Then she noticed that along the back of the house, just under the windowsill were rows of potted flowers.  

 

Papyrus pointed them out, listing off each of the ones she had suggested the week before and asking if she wouldn’t mind helping him plant them.

 

For the rest of that afternoon she worked with Papyrus, adding color and life to his garden.  She pointed out places that would be good for bird feeders, places where some birds might next come spring, and by the end of it all it the backyard had been turned into as colorful a place as the botany students’ greenhouses were.  She was actually excited to see where this would go, how it would grow and bloom and smell as the seasons changed, and without even planning it she realized she had become invested.  

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Join me on tumblr on my [Main Blog](https://vividlylost.tumblr.com/) or on my [ Undertale Side Blog](https://undertrashgold.tumblr.com/).


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